There isn’t a better feeling as a football fan than watching your favorite team’s kicker nailing a game-winning field goal as time expires. However, kickers in fantasy football have become a polarizing thing, with more leagues getting rid of them every year. If your fantasy football league still has a kicker spot, read our guide to drafting kickers.
However, the perfect kicker draft strategy is not to draft one, even if your fantasy league requires you to pick a kicker. Some fantasy platforms will force you to select a kicker before the draft ends. If that is the case, wait until the final round, pick a random kicker and immediately drop them after the draft.
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Fantasy Football Draft Strategy & Advice: Don’t Draft a Kicker
Fantasy players can do so many better things with that draft pick than selecting a kicker. Even if your league has a starting kicker spot, fantasy players can and should wait until the day before Week 1 to add one to their roster.
Kickers are a Dime a Dozen
Typically, most kickers score in the same range at the end of the season. Last year, the top five kickers scored an average of 155 fantasy points. Brandon Aubrey was an outlier as the top-scoring kicker in 2023, totaling 177 fantasy points. Behind him were Cairo Santos (160), Matt Gay (150), Justin Tucker (149), Jake Elliott (149) and Harrison Butker (147). Furthermore, five of the other six top-12 kickers scored at least 139 fantasy points last season.
While Aubrey averaged 10.4 fantasy points per game last year, 10 kickers averaged between 8.1 and 8.8 fantasy points per game. Brett Maher (eight) was the only one in that group to play in fewer than 16 games, showing kickers are generally similar fantasy producers. Furthermore, seven kickers averaged between 7.5 and 7.9 fantasy points per game in 2023.
Kickers are Best as Streamers
Kickers are unpredictable from one week to another. Instead of paying the price to draft Justin Tucker or a big-name kicker, fantasy players should stream the position as they do with defenses. Several factors go into streaming kickers, including the matchup, weather, over/under total and projected game flow.
Furthermore, some kickers don’t get drafted but end up being productive for fantasy players every year. Only five kickers drafted in the top 12 last season ended the year as a K1. Tyler Bass (K16), Younghoe Koo (K16), Jake Moody (K18) and Daniel Carlson (K25) were drafted as top-10 guys last season but finished outside the top 15.
Meanwhile, Brandon Aubrey was the K16 in average draft position (ADP) but was the top kicker in fantasy football and the NFL. Furthermore, if fantasy players stream the position, they can wait until Week 1 to add a kicker to their roster.
Kickers Aren’t League Winners
Every fantasy football expert will tell you to shoot for league-winning upside in the final rounds of your draft. However, kickers aren’t league winners. Last year, the top five kickers scored an average of 155 fantasy points. By comparison, Javonte Williams was the RB30, scoring 155.7 half-point PPR fantasy points.
Instead of drafting a kicker, fantasy players could use that last-round draft pick on a high-upside player like a handcuff or backfield competition player. This idea also applies to those with a D/ST spot in their starting lineup. On the slim chance Alvin Kamara suffers a torn ACL three days before the start of the regular season, fantasy players would much rather have used a late-round pick on Kendre Miller than a kicker.
Furthermore, fantasy players can use the roster spot to lock up a training camp battle instead of having to pick one player or the other. For example, fantasy players can draft Michael Wilson and Zay Jones in the later rounds of their draft and wait until Week 1 to see which receiver will be the No. 2 guy opposite Marvin Harrison Jr. That draft move is easier to make when you don’t have a kicker tying up a spot on your roster throughout before Week 1.
Fantasy players simply have to remember to add a Week 1 kicker (and D/ST) to their roster before opening night. While this is slightly off-topic, fantasy players can use this strategy throughout the season during the waiver period.
Instead of picking out your kicker for the week on Tuesday, grab the backup to a banged-up starting running back. While the starter likely plays, there is a chance he could get ruled out on Friday, giving fantasy players a potential top-20 guy for the week you wouldn’t normally have on your roster because you waited to add a kicker until Saturday night.
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Mike Fanelli is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @Mike_NFL2.